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I'm Afraid of Being Misquoted! Publicity Dilemma 8Free-Reprint Article Written by: Marcia Yudkin See Terms of Reprint Below.We have moved our TERMS OF REPRINT to the end of the article. Be certain to read our TERMS OF REPRINT and honor our TERMS OF REPRINT when you use this article. Thank you. This article has been distributed by: Article-Distribution.com Helpful Link: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Overview www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- Article Title: ============== I'm Afraid of Being Misquoted! Publicity Dilemma 8 Article Description: ==================== It's understandable to be apprehensive about being misrepresented in the news. You don't want to show up there with the equivalent of toilet paper snaking from your shoe. Yet being misquoted is not usually the catastrophe most people think it is. Additional Article Information: =============================== 667 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line Distribution Date and Time: 2009-04-09 11:00:00 Written By: Marcia Yudkin Copyright: 2009 Contact Email: [email protected] Marcia Yudkin's Picture URL: www.thephantomwriters.com/client-img/marcia-yudkin.jpg For more free-reprint articles by Marcia Yudkin, please visit: www.thePhantomWriters.com/recent/author/marcia-yudkin.html
If you use this article on your website or in your ezine, We Want To Know About It. Use the following URL to let us know where you have used this article, and we will include a link to your website on thePhantomWriters.com: thephantomwriters.com/notify.php?id=6631&p=load HTML Copy-and-Paste and TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of Article Are Available at: thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/y/being-misquoted.shtml#get_code --------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm Afraid of Being Misquoted! Publicity Dilemma 8 Copyright (c) 2009 Marcia Yudkin Creative Marketing Solutions www.yudkin.com/ Occasionally someone comes up at the end of a seminar on publicity to tell me that they once got media coverage, but the article was full of errors and they're now reluctant to try again. Or someone cites a colleague or neighbor who was grievously misquoted in the news. From those who've voiced this concern to me, I suspect many who don't ask about it also have this worry in the back of their minds. It's understandable to be apprehensive about being misrepresented in the news. After all, it's public - massively public. You don't want to show up there with the equivalent of toilet paper snaking from your shoe. And we all know how easy it is to get the facts wrong. As kids, we experienced it when we played "Telephone," where what made sense at the beginning of the chain of messaging became totally transmuted by the end. Yet being misquoted is not usually the catastrophe most people think it is. I once had a client who had become publicity-shy after getting front-page coverage in the Wall Street Journal. "There were 17 errors in the article!" she wailed. "Come on, show me," I said. She began pointing at particular sentences in the article and explaining how each was wrong. I stopped her after the fifth mistake. "You know, not one of these so-called mistakes has any impact whatsoever on your credibility. Do you think anyone cares that you owned that company for seven years instead of five - anyone except you? Of course reporters should get it right. However, here you are complaining about getting free coverage in the Wall Street Journal! When, as you told me, people who read the article called you from all over the world to find out how to hire you!" Not convinced? Okay, here are three tactics that help you prevent being misquoted. 1. Prepare for your media interview. Find out ahead of time what the story is about. Jot down your talking points - the things you want to get across to the reporter. Then stick to them. Don't wander, don't adlib. 2. Provide a written fact sheet or backgrounder to the reporter. This contains dates, numbers, details and spellings critical to the topic. For an interview in person, you can hand it to the interviewer, and for a phone interview you can fax or email it. This way, the reporter knows for certain that you graduated from the University of Washington, not Washington University, and that you founded your firm in 1979, not 1997. Do not demand or even ask politely for the chance to review the article or the broadcast segment before it's finalized. This goes against journalistic ethics. It's fine to invite the reporter to call you back to check anything they're not sure about or to say you'll be happy to cooperate with fact checkers. 3. During your interview, speak slowly and clearly. Use simpler sentences rather than long, complicated constructions that run off in five different directions. Spell out any proper names or unusual words. When face to face with a reporter who's taking notes, pause occasionally so the reporter can catch up with you. Do the same during a phone interview if you hear the reporter clacking away on a keyboard. If, despite such precautions, you are misquoted, don't freak out. Stop and think about whether or not anyone besides you really cares about the error. If you decide it's important to get a correction on the record, write to the media outlet in a cool, collected tone. Investor's Business Daily once featured Janice Hoffman's company, Before and After, on its front page, noting that it's located in Waterville, Massachusetts. There is no such town, however. The paper's one-line correction, "Janice Hoffman, Professional Organizer, is located in Watertown, Massachusetts," was spotted by a Channel 4 reporter who had not seen the original article and in short order put her on the air. "That was definitely my favorite typo, ever," Hoffman told me.
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